1 SINGAPORE GOVERNMENT PRESS STATEMENT MC JL 51/61. TEXT OF SPEECH BY THE PRIME MINISTER, MR.LEE KUAN YEW IN THE LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY ON THURSDAY, JULY 20, 1961. INTRODUCTION The events of the past week have been so rapid and dramatic that it takes some time for our minds to grasp their full significance. On Monday, 10 th July, ten days ago, at a forum at the University of Malaya specially organised to discuss "The Basis of Merger", an open collision took place between Mr.Devan Nair who represented the PAP and Mr.Woodhull who represented Mr.Lim Chin Siong and four others in the T.U.C. Mr. Woodhull, Mr.Devan Nair, Mr. Lim Chin Siong, Mr.Fong Swee Suan, Dr. Toh and I and several other members of the Central Executive were old comrades in the PAP. Now an open break has taken place when Mr. Woodhull, Political Secretary in the present Government, in the last week of the Anson by-election, openly attacked Mr. Devan Nair a founder member and PAP stalwart. lky/1961/lky0720.doc 2 On Friday, 14th July, six days ago, eight Assemblymen, came out supporting the Trade Union Six; and, in open breach of party discipline and rules of decency, created public confusion by demanding the PAP's disavowal of Mr. Devan Nair. What was all this about? Their object in doing this was to make us lose the Anson by-election, and the more heavily our candidate was defeated the more it suited their plot. They have succeeded in making our candidate lose. 1,500 people abstained from voting in Anson, disillusioned by this party dissension brought into the open deliberately on the eve of Polling Day, and we lost to Mr. David Marshall by 546 votes. What is this all about? We have to explain frankly what is happening and why it is happening. After Hong Lim when we were defeated badly I felt that if the people desired it, there should be a reference back to the people. However, it was decided by a majority opinion of the Party that we should first fight Anson and then reconsider the position. At that time Mr.Lim Chin Siong and all his trade union friends strenuously opposed any talk of our resignation. After losing Anson by a narrow majority and because of this attempt by the six trade unionist and 8 Assemblymen to capture the Government and the Party we are resolved not to abdicate our position in order that the Party and the Government does not lky/1961/lky0720.doc 3 pass into the hands of people who intend to use it to purposes for which the people did not vote the PAP in. The present leadership of the Party was responsible for winning the mandate of the people in the last elections, and it is our duty not to give Mr.Lim Chin Siong any opportunity to take over this Government in order to run it as a Communist front Government. What is this all about? Their first plan now, since they are unable to capture the Government, is to get me to resign in order that someone whom they believe they can manipulate, could be elected Prime Minister. They hope in this way to force a compromise in the policy of the Government so that they can extend Communist influence in Singapore and prevent us from fulfilling our declared objective of independence through merger with the Federation with or without the Borneo Territories in 1963. This move has now been frustrated by the unanimous decision of the C.E.C. to stand collectively together against any change. And this stand has been endorsed by a majority of P.A.P. Assemblymen. VOTE OF CONFIDENCE This motion is one of confidence and the motion will have to be carried as it stands without amendment or the Government must resign and general elections follow. On a motion of confidence, any amendment is tantamount to a vote of no confidence. lky/1961/lky0720.doc 4 As for the Honourable Members on the other side of the House may I say on behalf of my colleagues and I, that if they want general elections they can vote against the Government. This extraordinary session has become necessary because of the sudden turn of events over the last few weeks. Eight Assemblymen on the PAP side have openly defied the Party leadership. Demands for my resignation as Prime Minister have been made and it has become necessary that the House should clearly give us a mandate to carry on. You will recall, Mr. Speaker, Sir, that when we last met on 14th June, 1961, the House was adjourned sine die, the reason being that we expected to prorogue the session and re-convene again at the end of October after you have returned from a C.P.A. conference in London. I understand you will be leaving Singapore in September and returning in mid-October. Therefore, before this House goes into recess, we must make it clear that we have the mandate of the Assembly to carry on as the Government. By this stand I know that we shall face a fresh offensive which will be mounted on labour and industrial sections and on many other fronts. Therefore it lky/1961/lky0720.doc 5 was necessary that I should have a clear mandate from the PAP Central Executive and the PAP Assembly men who are going into the battle with us. This mandate I have been given by the Party, and we now formally ask it of the Assembly. TRIALS AHEAD It is now my duty to tell you of the trials and tribulations which lie ahead and of the many unpleasant things that may have to be done in order to maintain the economy of this island and your welfare. The time has come for the unvarnished truth to be told. For two years the British Government has tried to manipulate the PAP into a position where we will become the successor to Lim Yew Hock's policy, where the C.P. will be attacked not by British imperialism, which is the supreme power in Singapore, but by us the locally elected Government with limited powers. To achieve this end every blandishment and argument has been put forward, and every device and seductive manoeuvre practised. After two years the British have decided that the PAP is impervious to such blandishment. Perhaps they have decided that we are men who are not influenced by personal considerations of wishing to stay in power. We are lky/1961/lky0720.doc 6 prepared to lay down office at any time at the behest of the people and we are not going to be manipulated by any power. The big scheme we have only been able to piece completely together after the Anson by-election. The plot, counter-plot and sub-plots that have been going on would make an Oppenheimer thriller read like a simple comic strip cartoon. The diplomacy, skill and cunning of some 300 years of the building and running of the British Empire, and in the manipulation of men and their motivations have in great part led to this curious position, daily going curiouser and curiouser. TWO BRITISH OBJECTIVES The British as I see it had two objectives. The first objective was to engineer a collision between the non-communist left in the PAP and the Communist left. Their second objective is to ensure that the Borneo territories are put into a position where they will come together immediately in a federation under British tutelage, but in a state of readiness if the international situation turns delicate to be transferred to a nationalist government of "Greater Malaysia". lky/1961/lky0720.doc 7 I congratulate the planners of this scheme for having succeeded thus far. Day by day on the basis of British blandishments and manoeuvre, all parties -- the Communists, the PAP, the Federation and the leaders of the Borneo territories have been mounting the stakes at the poker table. To the pro- Communists in Singapore the British say that the British are liberal and democratic, that if they have released men from prisons to be prime ministers, and only recently they have done so again in Nyasaland, why should they want to keep detainees in jail? It is darkly hinted that it is the wicked Singapore Government that wanted to keep them in jail. PLOT, COUNTER-PLOT AND SUB-PLOT. These insinuations started slowly. After the Hong Lim by-election they were intensified. The British were unhappy that in Hong Lim the Communist left rallied to the P.A.P. united front. So some plan had to be found to ensure that the P.A.P. would come into collision with the C.P. left. Dinner parties, cocktails, luncheons led to friendly fraternalisation between the British Lion and Messrs. Lim Chin Siong, Woodhull & Co. The pro-communists were led to believe that the P.A.P. were the wicked obstructionists, and the British, wise and statesmanlike people, were prepared even to envisage a new "Left" government emerging in Singapore even more left than the P.A.P. provided their military bases were not touched. lky/1961/lky0720.doc 8 The British have become their own agents-provocateur. How well they have succeeded! Quietly and insidiously they had instigated the pro-Communists to attempt the capture of both the P.A.P. Government and the Party. Young inexperienced revolutionaries were so taken in, that in a crisis, Lim Chin Siong, Woodhull and Fong Swee Suan this trio looked up the U.K.